The Toronto Maple Leafs are stepping to a new beat. After collapses of various degrees over the past three seasons, the Leafs have opted for a newer approach - a more analytical approach - to try to avoid dropping out of playoff contention during the season. "You need a team thats capable of getting through some of those things and theres a learning process," general manager Dave Nonis said in conversation with TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie this weekend. "You have to look at some personnel issues and you have to look at how you do things. We have to learn from those mistakes. There are things that we have to correct, in the coaching staff, from a management standpoint and the players." And the Leafs certainly took a look at the entire organization this summer, with an overhaul beginning right at the top with the hiring of Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan as team president. Shanahan triggered the trickle-down effect with the removal of assistant GMs Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle along with assistant coaches Dave Farrish, Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon. The vacant coaching positions were filled by former Toronto Marlies head coach Steve Spott and former Florida Panthers head coach Peter Horachek. The new direction  and what could turn out to be the biggest change for the organizations present and future - is Shanahans hiring of analytics expert Kyle Dubas, the 28-year-old former GM of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds as Noniss assistant. As advanced statistics have become more prevalent in the NHL over the last few years, the Leafs hope the infusion of a bright analytic mind will inject new life into a club that ranked worst in the NHL in Corsi (Shots attempted vs. Shots against) and has developed the reputation of being a bad puck-possession team. "Its a different way of looking at things," Nonis said of placing more importance on analytics. "Theres a lot of information that should disseminate throughout the coaching staff and help them make the decisions on lineups, on combinations, on how you play the opposition, so I think the coaches are going to benefit from it. "From a management standpoint I think were going to benefit from it long term, if we can do some of the things were hoping to do. One of the things that we talked about is how do we take some of this information and project into the future how were going to get better and things we can do to get better. And thats not going to be a two-month or three-month project. I think its going to be something that is going to take years for us to really nail down, but were attacking it pretty hard and Kyle and his staff is working hard on it right now." In order for the shift in philosophy to work, the entire organization needs to buy in, which Nonis says has never and should never be a problem. "The analytics budget was put into our budget by me," Nonis said. "If I had an aversion to it I wouldnt have put it in and I put it in several years ago. "The reason we havent spent the majority of it is that until now we really havent had a person come to us that has shown us some direction that made sense. Weve had a lot of good coloured graphs and things that look pretty but it really wasnt helpful and I think when we had those discussions with Kyle, it looks like this is the first person that had been able to talk to us, and I put Brendan into the same category, were not deep into it and we need someone to help us with it and to explain how it is going to move us forward and he (Dubas) was able to do that." Nonis added that even head coach Randy Carlyle has been all ears to the new direction. "No question. Randy has always been open to it," he explained. "We used it last year - we presented him with information and hes never said Get that out of here, which I think some coaches have." Now its up to the players to absorb the new wave of information on the way. It will take patience, determination and effort to perfect a new system based around advanced statistics. And it will also take character, which has become a hot topic around the team since outgoing MLSE president Tim Leiweke made comments about it in a recent address at Ryerson University in Toronto. And while Leiweke backed away from the specifics of that statement, saying it was a general response and not directed at any one player, Nonis didnt seem to agree with his future former boss. "Were comfortable with the character of the group -with the group coming back and the players that we added," he said. "If we had questions about their character they wouldve been gone in the summer." Anthony Davis Jersey . Louis Blues are reportedly taking restricted free agent forward Vladimir Sobotka to arbitration. New Orleans Pelicans Jerseys . The German has taken the pole for three straight races -- winning the first two. Hes aiming for a third consecutive win at the Yeongam circuit and, most importantly, a fourth consecutive F1 championship. http://www.shoppelicansonline.com/Customized/. -- A.J. Burnett was happy to escape from New York. DeMarcus Cousins Jersey . Sure, Josh Browns 45-yard field goal on the third drive of overtime lifted the New York Giants to a 23-20 win over Detroit on Sunday. But the Lions (7- dropped themselves out of the NFC North race by losing five of their last six games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in each setback. Solomon Hill Jersey .m. ET, CBSOPENING LINE  Falcons by 3 1/2RECORD VS.TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wound up winners after a season-ending loss.Drew Brees shrugged off three interceptions  two of them stopping promising third-quarter drives  to throw for 281 yards in the New Orleans Saints 23-20 win over the Buccaneers on Sunday.With the loss, Tampa Bay (2-14) locked up the first pick in next springs draft.Its been a long year, first-year Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith said. When youre down there thats one consolation, I guess, from the season weve had. Thats where we are now.Tampa Bay played a number of non-starters, especially in the second half when the Saints rallied for the win.I dont think anybody tanked it, Tampa Bay quarterback Josh McCown said. We played the guys we played to rotate guys in and give them a look. As far as players are concerned, the draft, that stuff is not relevant as far to how were playing. We competed hard and thats the main thing. Got a chance to evaluate some younger guys as we build this thing.Brees 36-yard touchdown pass to Marques Colston gave the Saints (7-9) their first lead with 1:57 remaining. Junior Galette sacked McCown for a safety that provided the final margin.It wasnt clean, Saints coach Sean Payton said. It wasnt perfect. I was pleased the way we hung in there in the second half. We came up with enough plays to take the lead at the end.Doug Martin rushed for a season-best 108 yards and rookie Mike Evans set a Tampa Bay record with his 12th touchdown reception as the Bucs flirted with damaging their chances of winding up with the No. 1 overall selection.Mark Ingram scored on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter, trimming New Orleans deficit to 20-14. Keenan Lewis interception and return to the 50 led to Brees TD pass to Colston to make it 21-20.The Saints were eliminated from playoff contention by last weeks 30-14 loss to Atlanta.Patrick Murrayss 39-yard field goal and McCowns 6-yard TD pass to Evans staked Tampa Bay to an early 10-0 lead.dddddddddddd One of the leagues weakest offences kept moving the ball at will against the New Orleans defence.In building a 20-7 halftime edge, the Bucs outgained the leagues No. 1 offence 248 yards to 118, including a whopping 148-89 advantage on the ground, where both Martin and rookie Charles Sims were effective.Then the Saints outgained the Bucs 220-32 after halftime.Tampa Bay controlled the ball for nearly 20 minutes of the opening half, a stark contrast to an early October meeting between the division rivals in which the Saints ran 86 offensive plays to Tampa Bays 54. New Orleans won that matchup, overcoming an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit before prevailing 37-31 in overtime.Evans and Vincent Jackson caught passes on the first two plays of the game, making them the first tandem of Bucs receivers to top 1,000 yards in the same season.It was a goal for me and V-Jax to both have it, Evans said. So thats pretty special.Its the fourth straight 1,000-yard season  third with Tampa Bay  for Jackson, who left the game later in the first quarter and did not return because of a groin injury. Thats tied for the second-longest active streak behind Calvin Johnsons five.Evans, meanwhile, broke the team single-season record for TD receptions. He had shared the mark with Mike Williams, who had 11 as a rookie in 2010.Evans didnt play most of the second half as the Bucs looked at other receivers.Brees was 24 of 38. He extended the go-ahead drive with a 4-yard completion to Jimmy Graham on fourth-and-2.NOTES: Tampa Bay LB Mason Foster was inactive because of a sore Achilles tendon. ... Smith said LB Danny Lansanah had limited playing time after violating a team rule.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFLCheap NFL JerseysWholesale Jerseys 2019Cheap JerseysJerseys NFL CheapCheap Jerseys ChinaDiscount NFL JerseysNFL Jerseys China ' ' '